


we could be heroes (what do you say?)

by togallifreywego



Series: togallifreywego's one-shots [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bitter Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes' Siblings - Freeform, Domestic Boyfriends, Fluff and Angst, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, M/M, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, One Shot, Sam Wilson is a Gift, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-01-29 14:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21412060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/togallifreywego/pseuds/togallifreywego
Summary: Bucky's not sure he likes Halloween anymore. Unless he can dress up as Ziggy Stardust.Or, Bucky has his doubts about Halloween nowadays. It takes Sam and two kids with good taste in Halloween costumes to show him its not all bad.idea is from a twitter thread bybuckysstars+ the title is a couple of lyrics from david bowie's songheroesaka an absolute b o p
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson
Series: togallifreywego's one-shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1543576
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	we could be heroes (what do you say?)

**Author's Note:**

> I have a couple of exams coming up that I need to revise for so im posting this oneshot I wrote for Halloween but never posted! as usual i couldn't find the right phrases for what i wanted to say but i quite like this fic anyways! first proper time writing angsty stuff so its probably very bad and/or cheesy  


Bucky splits his life into Before and After. Before is flashes of things he knows only from his Memory Book, and After is the slightly fuzzy moment aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier with Steve. And Sam. After is full of Sam, and Bucky reckons that's the best part. Not that he's going soft.

Bucky thinks he might have liked Halloween Before. 

He's got a picture in his Memory Book and, in his opinion, it shows Steve and Bucky exactly how they're meant to be. Steve's all awkward grin and small, skinny frame. Picture Steve's clearly made their costumes - the art style is so painfully _Steve_. But Bucky? Bucky barely recognises himself. Picture Bucky still has that cocky tilt to his head. He's so sure of his future. More than a little unsettling. 

Bucky's not sure what's more disturbing - Picture Bucky in general or the fact that he doesn't really recognise the three little kids in the picture. Steve said that they were his siblings, and Bucky believes him, but their faces are distant - he knows them like Sam knows the cousins he makes small talk with once a year at Christmas, or perhaps even less. Bucky doesn't really like the picture, doesn't really like any of the pictures in his Memory Book, but as Halloween draws closer, he finds himself pressing the fingertips of his flesh hand against Picture Bucky's forehead. As if he could will the memories in Picture Bucky's brain back into his own. 

Bucky's not sure he likes Halloween anymore. Unless he can dress up as Ziggy Stardust.

Whatever Bucky feels about Halloween nowadays, Sam certainly seems to love it, which sort of cements the holiday as 'okay' in Bucky's head. Sam spends the week leading up to Halloween bulk buying sweets for the trick-or-treaters and half-forming plans to take Clint's kids, Scott's daughter and the slightly concerning amount of _fun-sized pains in the ass_ \- Strange's words, not his - that Stark's managed to adopt out trick-or-treating. 

Is there a song that gives you tips on how to ruin your boyfriend's plans by telling him you don't really want to do anything 'Halloweeny'? He'll have to ask Shuri. Bucky likes to have a song for everything. 

Bucky's Halloween morning was thankfully about as 'not-Halloweeny' as you could get. He even plays his least depressing playlist and Sam nearly has a heart attack. He does seem pleased that Bucky didn't have his 'Great Depression' playlist on, though. He means well but it just makes Bucky feel even more guilty about raining on Sam's (Halloween) parade. 

Sam talks him - with a lot of puppy-dog eyes and kisses - into carving pumpkins with him that afternoon ("We can put them outside the door, Barnes! The kids will love them! Just don't carve any graphic murder scenes onto yours."). Bucky finds that scooping out the pumpkin's flesh gives him a bit more courage. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that. 

"Hey, Sam?" he asks, as neutrally as he could manage. "What are we doing tonight? Halloween and all that."

"Well, Tic-Tac and I were thinking we could all go and take the kids out tick-or-treating? What do you think?"

"It's just, the thing is... I'm not sure that I _like_ Halloween anymore? I think I liked it Before it's just..." Bucky trails off as Sam pulls him into a pumpkin-smelling hug. 

"Like your birthday, yeah?" Sam's right, of course. He doesn't particularly enjoy his birthdays anymore either - most of the people (except for maybe Sam) that he'd _really_ like to celebrate with are gone, and when he was with HYDRA his birthday was just another day of torture. "We can stay in, if you want. Maybe you could answer the door to the trick-or-treaters a couple of times. Baby steps, right?"

"Baby steps," Bucky echoes, and Sam _beams_, standing on his tiptoes to kiss Bucky softly on the lips. 

\--------

A few hours later, Bucky's wearing a Green Day hoodie, printed with a skeleton, that had passed Sam's 'Spooky Test'. He's got to admit he's feeling a little better about the whole thing. Less like cocky forties Bucky, less like the Soldat, HYDRA's puppet. More like a new sort of Bucky. The doorbell rings and Sam gives him an encouraging smile. Bucky shoves his metal hand into his hoodie pocket, opening the door to three little girls, all about six or seven years old, all dressed as cats. They chorus "Trick-Or-Treat!!" and yeah, Bucky does have a smile on his face at that. Maybe he could enjoy this after all. 

\--------

So much for wishful thinking. 

Yeah, they've had a couple of kids dressed as cats or spiders or pirates, but the majority are superheroes. They've had enough Iron Men to make Stark a whole new Iron Legion, several Black Widows, and one little kid clutching a test tube, the tips of her fingers daubed with pastel green. A perfect Brue Banner. Bucky makes a point of giving her extra candy - just seeing the kid's costume would keep the normally unsure, quiet scientist on cloud nine for days. 

Most of the kids were Captain America, though. 

Steve left months ago, now, but Bucky's breath catches in his throat every time he opens the door to a kid clutching a shield. There's a sharp pain gnawing at his chest. Maybe he's being overdramatic but he doesn't particularly care. 

\--------

The door rings again at about half nine.

"Jesus Christ, aren't they done?" Bucky groans into Sam's chest. The steady stream from the start of the evening has become a few tired kids here and there. They've ended up curled on the sofa, watching the Halloween episode of _Dancing with the Stars_. Bucky might be a little bit in love with Bruno Tonioli. 

"I can get it," Sam mumbles half-heartedly. The many, many kids dressed as Steve have clearly taken a toll on him, too. 

"No, it's okay." Bucky reluctantly untangles himself from Sam and hops up. 

He opens the door to a little boy with tin foil wrapped around one arm and a pretty impressive Sharpie beard. Bucky's sure his heart stops for a second. 

"So, who are you supposed to be?" he asks. 

"Uh, I'm _Bucky Barnes_, duh!" the kid says exasperatedly. "He's my favourite superhero!"

"Yeah, he's pretty cool. Falcon's definetly better though." Sam appears in the hallway and winks at the boy. 

"My sister's Falcon!" He claps his hands and pulls a girl of about five in front of him. She's got little papier-mâché wings and is clutching a toy bird that Bucky guesses is meant to be Redwing. 

"Oh my God, it's Sam Wilson! I'm a big fan - can I have a selfie?!" Sam declares. The little girl giggles.

"I'm not _actually_ Falcon! Its only a costume!" she says. Sam borrows their mom's phone to take a selfie anyway, and then swaps to his phone to snap enough pictures of Bucky with the little boy to fill up his entire phone storage.

"Well, we'd better give you all the candy we've got left for your _excellent_ taste in superheroes, huh? Very convincing costumes!" Bucky suggests. Describing himself as a hero feels strange. He could get used to it, though. The two kids give them big grins and run off with about six Mars Bars each. Sam shuts the door behind them with a soft smile. 

"Guess we're heroes, now," he murmurs, sliding an arm around Bucky's waist. "Let me guess, Barnes, you've got a song for this?"

Bucky nods, scrolling through Spotify for a second. Sam hooks the phone up to a speaker and the opening notes of David Bowie's 'Heroes' wind their way around them. 

Maybe Bucky likes Halloween nowadays, too. 

**Author's Note:**

> I highkey wrote bucky as bitter towards steve in this bc honestly, im sad and bitter as fuck about steve's ending in endgame and im projecting that onto bucky :p  
also I googled bucky barnes siblings so much because I read on twitter that he had some but I could only find rebecca barnes, and I can't buy the comics **anywhere** in the uk so idk the rest of the names - if anyone lives in the uk and knows good places to get the comics p l e a s e lmk since I really wanna read them  
i highkey projected a lot of my taste in music and tv onto bucky because i love david bowie and strictly come dancing(aka the brit version of dancing with the stars)  



End file.
